The proposed “Adopt-A-Classroom” program would seek donations from individuals and local businesses. Emerson, the former police captain, promised to make up any under-funding out of his own pocket as part of a larger plan to give back some of his salary and pension to the city.

The new high school, which will have 17 classrooms, would receive $1,700, he said, and he doesn’t know or “care” how many classrooms there are in the city: all would be covered.

There are four schools, counting White Brook Middle School and two elementary schools, totaling about 64 classrooms.

“It’s better than nothing and the teachers do appreciate it,” Emerson said on Wednesday. His sister-in-law and several friends are teachers, he said, and there would be “no accountability” for how the money was spent.

“I trust the teachers,” he said. “I don’t need slips or anything.”

If the effort collects more than $100 for each classroom, the donations may rise or the difference could be held for the following year, he said.

Mayor Michael A. Tautznik criticized “Adopt-A-Classroom” at the candidates’ first public debate Tuesday, saying it would bring only $9,000 into a system that will lose about $1.4 million this year due to school choice, according to the fiscal 2012 budget.

The real figure is lower: about $6,400.

“It’s wonderful. Great idea. Just, it doesn’t really fit the bill,” he said. His plan is to continue improving school buildings. He could not be reached for further comment Wednesday.

Emerson said the program isn’t meant to close the school choice gap, but to take some pressure off the city’s 129 public school teachers.

The program mirrors the Miami-based non-profit Adopt-A-Classroom, which facilitated $1,470 in corporate donations to one teacher at Maple Street Elementary School in 2010. The group has no other record of Easthampton involvement.

Emerson said that wasn’t a model for his plan.

The National School Supply and Equipment Association, a trade organization, said teachers spent an average of $170 on supplies and $186 on instructional materials in the 2009-2010 school year.

“The mayor said it’s a drop in the bucket, but that little drop in the bucket would be appreciated,” Emerson said of his program.

He has not hammered out how donors would be recognized, but he said he may take out ads in local newspapers naming each contributor. He said he would pay for the ads himself.

If Emerson is elected Nov. 8, the goal is to implement “Adopt-A-Classroom” by the end of that term.